


Slip Up

by Zig_Zag_F1



Series: You Love Him [3]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Apologies, Getting Back Together, Hook-Up, Kissing, M/M, Making Up, Mild Sexual Content, Regret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-29 16:55:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20799884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zig_Zag_F1/pseuds/Zig_Zag_F1
Summary: Max is forced to face how much he actually misses Daniel.





	Slip Up

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why but the song You Love Him by Brighten made me want to write things based on each line so here I am. You don't have to listen to the song though, or read the fics in order.
> 
> This is line 3, if anyone cares to know.

"_Maybe you'll slip up and say my name."_

It's easy with his eyes closed, and these days, they're never open during sex. He doesn't want to see whoever they are anyway.

With his eyes closed, it could be anyone. It's become a routine, the same old song and dance, every time he's away, and true to form, here he is again in a random hotel room with someone whose name he's already forgotten. 

But damn, they're good at this.

Max shifts on the bed, eyes still closed, propped up on his elbows, fighting the urge to moan at the way his hookup for the night is sucking him. It's so fucking good, and if he's honest, it's been a while this time. He's being trying to break his nighttime travel habits. 

Tonight, though, he needed some release, some companionship, some...something. Whatever this is.

He gives in eventually and moans over and over as he finishes. There's no one to hear in this motel anyway. 

When it's over, he forces himself to open his eyes. Turn and turn about, after all. It's only fair that they both get something out of this.

But his companion, who's name Max still can't recall, shows no sign of continuing their encounter. He's using the white motel towels to wipe off his face, his shirt already back on, and he's looking at Max in an odd way. 

"Something wrong?" Max asks gruffly. He's not sure if he's fucked up somehow. He can't think of where he could have gone wrong though.

The blond pulls his skinny jeans back on and runs his fingers through his hair without replying. Max just waits, slightly annoyed, as the blond boy walks towards the door and stops just in front of it.

"Take my advice...whoever Daniel is, either call him or get over him," he says, almost sympathetic as he tosses the dirty hotel towel into the corner and lets himself out.

Max flops backwards on the bed and covers his face with his hands. It's not the first time he's imagined that his stranger for the evening is Daniel, but it's the first time the name has slipped out.

He figures that after the effort he's spent hiding how he felt, it was bound to bubble up from under the surface sooner or later like rust creeping up under paint. He breathes out a long, heavy sigh, and admits to himself, for the first time since the fight two months ago, that he really does miss Daniel. He hates facing that fact. It's like losing in the last lap of a race. After all, who knows what Dan feels anymore. Maybe nothing.

_Either call him or get over him._

Well, the getting over him wasn't working out. Max doesn't want to call, because a little part of him thinks that's weak, but he realizes after a few seconds that he already feels weak. Maybe it's the fact that he's already spilled out Daniel's name without even knowing it. Or maybe it's a vulnerable moment, and he's tired and alone in a crappy motel room, and reality is crushing him at last.

Without quite knowing how, he finds his finger hovering over Daniel's number, and he's not even drunk. He should at least be drunk to consider this he thinks, but then he knows that it's because he's finally sober that he can't run from it. 

He pushes his finger down and holds his breath while the phone rings, on and on and on, until he's about to slam the phone down and start berating himself. _So stupid, Max._..

"Hello," Daniel's voice says, and Max has no idea what to say. "Max? Are you there?" Daniel asks, and Max can hear hope in his voice. 

That hope finally lets all the air out of his lungs in a gasp and he can breathe again and his voice finds itself somehow. "Hey Dan."

"Max? Are you okay? Are you drunk?"

"I'm okay," Max says, and he is. "I'm not drunk. But I was wondering...if you want to meet somewhere and talk. I've...I'm...I want to make it right."

He can hear Dan exhale on the other end, and he imagines that Daniel, like him, has just let out a long-held breath. "I'd like that, Max. Where are you?"

Max fumbles around on the motel nightstand, searching for something with the address, and he reads it off slowly, making sure Dan will know where to find him. "Room 128."

"I'll meet you there in like twenty," Daniel says, and he's still a little awkward sounding, but the optimism and hope in his voice is growing, and it sets Max at ease.

"Okay. I'll be here," he says, and he hangs up before saying something he doesn't want to say over the phone.

When the knock on the door sounds, Max is showered and redressed and the towels are in the bathroom corner where they're not visible. Not because Daniel doesn't know what Max has been up to, but more because Max is suddenly self-conscious of his recent activities. "Come in."

Daniel enters without a word, closes the door behind him, and Max looks at him from his position, seated on the edge of the bed. Dan opens his mouth, but it's Max who beats him to speaking.

"I'm sorry."

And Daniel stares at him. Max would laugh, except that he knows Daniel has rarely heard him use those words, and that makes things worse.

"I'm sorry," he repeats, and he thinks he's never said anything else as brutally honest as those words. "I never meant...I'm just..." He hesitates and lands on the words. "I was too stubborn to apologize before."

Daniel crosses the room and sits down next to him, inches away, and Max wants to reach for him, but he doesn't know if that's okay. "Max..." He begins, and trails off.

Max pushes out the last of his coherent, planned words, the hardest three, the ones he didn't know if he'd be able to say. "I was wrong."

Dan is still looking at him, so close and so far, and Max barely lets himself make eye contact. 

Finally, after a few attempts, Dan finds words again. "I'm sorry too. You aren't the only one who said things that weren't fair."

It's true. But Max doesn't care who is to blame anymore. "It doesn't matter," he says, shrugging it off. His eyes meet Daniel's and this time he tries not to look away.

"I missed you, Max."

The words aren't loud, but Max can hear them perfectly well. He licks his lips and closes his eyes, only to force them open again. This time it's not hard to look at the person in front of him. 

"I missed you too," he says. For once, the words don't stumble on their way out.

Then Dan is reaching for him, and he's reaching back and his hands are in Daniel's hair and Daniel's hands are on his face and he doesn't care about anything and when Daniel kisses his neck, he doesn't even bother to stifle the word that leaves his lips: 

"_Daniel."_

**Author's Note:**

> This is totally my cursed fictional creation, no copying to anywhere, leave it in the Accursed AO3 or you will have ill fortune forever, etc.
> 
> Yell in comments, or not, but thanks for reading either way.


End file.
